Juice Cleanses: Separating Fact from Fiction

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With nutritious ingredients and good-for-you health claims, juice
cleanses and liquid detox diets have received plenty of buzz.

The craze has caught on among celebrities who see
doing a cleanse as a way to lose weight quickly and eliminate
toxins from their bodies, giving them a fresh start.

But many health professionals aren't fans of taking this approach
to a better well-being, saying there's little scientific evidence
that these restrictive eating plans actually remove harmful
substances from the system or live up to their health-promoting
promises.

A juice cleanse is a quick fix that overpromises, said Joy
Dubost, a dietitian in Washington, D.C., and a spokesperson for
the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. If a person wants to
follow a more cleansing diet, they should increase the amounts of
fruits and vegetables,
fiber-rich foods and water in their diet, she said.

Instead of turning to a liquid cleanse, Dubost recommends working
with a registered dietitian to build a healthier eating plan that
will produce more long-term benefits and
weight-loss success.

Fact: The body is always in a natural state of
cleansing, Dubost said. It has a built-in system for
detoxification: the liver, lungs, kidneys and gastrointestinal
tract work to remove toxins or harmful substances, she explained.

But "cleanse mode" is not a physiological process, Dubost said,
and the body doesn't flip a switch into cleanse mode when a
person stops eating solid food. She said it's also unclear
exactly what toxins cleanse marketers are talking about because
they don't name these toxins. [ 6
Potential Dangers of Juice Cleanses and Liquid Diets ]

Fiction: Another benefit of drinking juice is the lack of
fiber. Without fiber, the digestive system is allowed to rest and
energy can be freed up for detoxification.

Fact: There is no science to support the claim
that the digestive system needs to rest, Dubost told Live
Science. The only time the digestive system needs to rest is
after surgery, but the body doesn't need to do this to promote a
balanced lifestyle, she explained.

In fact, the limited fiber content of a juice cleanse is one of
the drawbacks of doing one, Dubost said. Fiber ensures proper
function in the gastrointestinal tract. It promotes regularity
and increases satiety, which allows a person to feel full longer.
Getting more fiber in the diet may also reduce people's
risk of heart disease and cancer, she said.

Fiction: Some people experience headaches, dizziness,
fatigue and moodiness during a juice cleanse. This is completely
normal and usually a sign that the body is detoxifying.

Fact:Dubost agreed that some people have these
symptoms while on a juice cleanse. But it's not a sign that the
body is detoxifying, rather, it's a result of a poor diet and a
lack of nutrients to sustain a person, she said.

Another potential pitfall of a juice fast or liquid diet is that
people doing one may not have the energy to work out, Dubost
said. Exercise is an important part of a sustainable approach to
shedding pounds.

Fiction: Cleansing can help people break their unhealthy
eating habits.

Fact: Breaking unhealthy habits is a highly
individualized process, Dubost suggested. Some people who feel
the need to do a
dietary cleanse may be answering a psychological need more
than a physiological one, she said.

In their minds they feel doing a cleanse will set them up for
better success on a healthier diet, Dubost said. They believe
cleansing will get them primed and ready, perhaps both mentally
and physically, to change their eating habits.

When her clients feel this way, Dubost said she understands what
may be going on in their heads, but she tries to limit the amount
of time they spend doing a cleanse. "There are much healthier
alternatives to losing weight and ensuring the body is working at
its best," she said.

Fact: "This is completely false," Dubost said.
If anything, a person is going into famine mode and trying to
conserve the calories and nutrient stores they have, which slows
down metabolism, she explained. There is no science to support
this claim, Dubost added.

Fiction: Cleansing improves mental clarity and
focus.

Fact: If anything, cleansing does the opposite,
Dubost said. "I'm not sure where the mental clarity comes from,"
she said, adding that the brain runs on glucose.

A person can get some glucose from juices or from the maple syrup
used in the Master Cleanse detox
diet, but not enough for the brain to work at its best,
Dubost explained. Also, people might develop headaches and
fatigue while doing a cleanse, which can hurt thinking skills,
she noted.

Fiction: Cleansing rapidly sheds unwanted
pounds.

Fact: A person might see results on the scale
after doing a juice cleanse, Dubost admitted. "But the loss is
more water weight and muscle weight, and potentially over time,
someone could lose bone mass," she said.

It's also not lasting weight loss: Once a person completes their
cleanse and starts eating again, they could gain the pounds right
back, Dubost said.